


Festering

by glittergoth



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Bullying, Emetophobia, Fae!Glanni, Gen, Highschool AU, This is gonna be more misery for Robbie, fae!Robbie, i'll update tags as I post, is this whump yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-02-23 13:24:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13191027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glittergoth/pseuds/glittergoth
Summary: Robbie, who lives with his older cousin Glanni and his gang, is given a nickname by a bully that sticks with him throughout his life.





	1. Before School Wednesday

Robbie was still tinkering with one of his inventions when he noticed the morning sun’s glinting through his blinds. Sighing, he set down his tools lightly and pushed himself out of his slouch. Leaning back in his chair, Robbie attempted to catch a glimpse of the clock in the living room. Still out of sight. Not wanting to get up unless absolutely necessary, Robbie tipped back further, balancing the wood chair on its 2 hind legs. 

 

“Almost there,” he muttered. 

 

Finally having adjusted the chair to an angle where the clock was visible, he only had a moment to squint at the clock before he lost balance. Robbie smacked onto the floor with a thud and groaned, reeling between the impact and his lack of sleep. 

 

The apartment was silent. No concerned cousins or loud guffaws at his failed attempt at saving energy. That meant Glanni and the gang had left very early, or didn’t come home last night in the first place. Most likely the latter. Robbie ran one hand through his hair to rub where he hit his head and shoved himself into a sitting position with the other. 

 

“I’ll have to look out for them today,” he commented aloud. It was rare for them to not come back, but not unheard of. After dragging himself off the floor and pulling on a new pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, Robbie shuffled out into the living room. 

 

“ _Ugh._ I’m late” he groaned as he snatched his messenger bag off the fluffy chair in the living room. Opening the fridge to reveal empty shelves save for some milk, he sulked. “I’ll just have to wait till lunch to figure something out.”

 

Robbie rushed down the winding metal staircase outside the flat, his feet plunking so noise reverberated off the steps. Fighting against his increasing grogginess, he speed walked down the sidewalk. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a loud whistling sound coming from across the street.

 

“Glanni!” He shouted.

 

“Little Rob!” Glanni called while beckoning Robbie to cross the street. He and the Mayhemtown Gang were leaning against a chain link fence bordering a city park. Their ‘shopping’ bags were full, indicating that they had been out lifting last night. 

 

Robbie trotted over and embraced Glanni in a hug. “I was worried when you didn’t come back last night!”

 

Glanni snorted. “You never need to worry about me. Unrelated, but if anyone asks about me today don’t tell them you saw us.” 

 

Robbie sighed. The two were definitely related. 

 

Glanni released him from the hug, then suddenly furrowed his brows. "Robbie. Your eyeliner is all fucked up. Did you even take it off last night?”

 

Robbie shifted uncomfortably. “I guess I forgot.”

 

Glanni stared him down. “Did you sleep last night? No, never mind, let me fix it,” Glanni pulled out an eyeliner pen and leaned in towards him. Robbie sputtered and backed away as the gang laughed. 

 

“Glanni _please_ , I’m _already_ late!” Robbie pleaded.

 

Glanni let out a puff of breath and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why you waste so much time at that shithole,” Glanni crowed while rustling Robbie’s hair. “If you can add and subtract, that’s all you’ll ever need to know to count your money!” 

 

“B-but.. Don’t I need to actually know things to earn it first?” Robbie offered feebly.

 

The Mayhemtown Gang roared with laughter, slapping their knees. 

 

“Kid, you just steal wares from the grocery store and resell them!” The tall one wheezed.

 

“Yeah, or do what Glanni does! The magic mind manipulation shit. Making gross shit seem appealing or, uh, whatever he does. I don’t really get it, but it works so I listen to him,” the member wearing the orange hat added. Glanni just rolled his eyes and gave him a small friendly shove. 

 

Robbie stared at the ground and grumbled. He was well aware of how the quartet made their money. However, petty theft wouldn’t help him learn _other_ things, like engineering. Which wasn’t something he could learn in the public Mayhemtown schools either, but welding and programming helped him with at least some techniques for his personal projects, which were still mostly malfunctioning but he was making progress.

 

“Anyway,” Glanni started, “Did you have breakfast today?” 

 

Robbie nodded.

 

“Bullshit. Unless you bought food. We didn’t have anything in the kitchen yesterday besides some salt and spoiled milk.” 

 

Robbie’s nose twitched and he avoided eye contact. “The cafeteria will be closed by the time I get there.”

 

“ _Shit_.” Glanni began digging around in his pockets. He pulled out a snack bar and some coins. Dropping them into Robbie’s hands, he turned to snap at the 3 others. “Well? What are you waiting for? Robbie needs lunch money!” 

 

The gang jumped in surprise and began fumbling with their trench coats. 

 

While they dug around, Glanni rolled his eyes then turned back to Robbie. Sucking in a sharp breath, Glanni pulled out a small piece of paper and pressed it firmly into Robbie’s palms. 

 

“This,” Glanni said as he retracted his hand, “is in case I don’t come home again. It’s directions on how to get to our money. We.. The idiots fucked up last night.” Glanni shot a glare towards the gang and winced. “We got away but we were spotted with some expensive shit, so they’re probably looking for us today. So if all 4 of us go to jail go get the goods. It’ll pawn for enough money to last till whenever we get out.” 

 

Robbie felt his blood go cold as he nodded numbly and shoved the paper, coins, and snack bar into his pockets. 

 

The gang shuffled their feet and let out some impatient sighs while holding out what they had managed to find. A few more coins, a disheveled dollar bill, a piece of string, and a jolly rancher with a slightly melted appearance. Not much, but enough to buy a snack.

 

“Thanks.” Robbie mumbled, collecting the offerings from his begrudging givers. 

 

Jogging backwards down the sidewalk, Robbie yelled, “I really have to go!”

 

“Wait!” Glanni called out. Robbie paused and tentatively started bouncing his foot.

 

“Text me if you need anything."

 

Robbie nodded. “I’ll see you later” he added, trying not to sound too hopeful. Waving goodbye one last time, Robbie jogged off as fast as he could comfortably manage.

 


	2. Wednesday Morning

“By the age of 1, we start to interact with our world. We’re more independent from our mother. And now that we can crawl, we begin to explore the world on our own.”

 

Robbie’s eyelids fluttered. His biology teacher had proclaimed that today we’d be watching a movie. Everyone had been excited until they learned it was a documentary. Even less excited when they were given question sheets to fill in while watching. 

 

“We can crawl because our bones have got stronger. They need to be, we’re getting pretty heavy!”

 

Robbie sighed and leaned down into his arms, having crossed them on his desk. He was _always_ tired at school, but pulling an all nighter didn’t help. Having the lights out didn’t help. Watching a baby on the projector screen slowly shuffle around did NOT help. 

 

“At birth our skeleton is mostly cartilage, the same material our ears are made of.”

 

It can’t really hurt to sleep now, he thought. It’s just a few more points lost. I can catch up later. I always do. 

 

Robbie slowly faded from consciousness as the narrator’s voice droned on. Shutting out all the noise as much as he could, he started to drift off. 

 

Seemingly moments later, a pile of textbooks were slammed down next to his face and muffled voices were ringing in his ears.

 

Head swirling, Robbie pushed himself up into a half-upright position.

 

“Aren’t you going to answer me?” The voice sneered. “ _Rob_ the _Slob_.”

 

“Wh- Ross?” Robbie scrambled to get up, momentarily forgetting where he was. 

 

“I _said_ , looks like you fell asleep in class _again_. Total underachiever. Why don’t you just drop out like your cousin did? I’m sure the street life would suit the likes of you better, it’s in your blood after all!”

 

“Ross!” The teacher cut in, “That’s enough, he’s awake. Class dismissed.” 

Robbie turned to leave as quickly as he could. 

 

“Robbie, just a moment please.” The teacher called. 

 

“We’ll see you later, slob!” One of Ross’s friends spat as they slipped out of the room. 

 

Robbie sighed and trudged over to teacher. He wasn’t exactly upset at staying behind since it put off dealing with Ross, but getting lectured was never a favorite pastime of his. 

 

“Robbie, I just want to make sure you’re feeling okay.” He shuffled, staring at the floor, and gave a noncommittal grunt. “You were doing so well at the beginning of the year, I know you’re a smart kid, is there anything keeping you from being successful? I’ll always help you if you need it.” 

 

Robbie twitched and made pensive eye contact. “…No. Everything is fine. I’m sorry, I’ll catch up later.”

 

Robbie turned to leave as she made a somewhat disappointed face.

 

“Wait! One more thing, Robbie, please. Have you seen your cousin today?”

 

Robbie froze up momentarily, but didn’t turn around. “ _No._ Sorry. _”_ He replied briskly, then hurried out the door before any clarifying questions could be made.

 

Pulling out his phone in the hallway, Robbie noticed he had several texts from Glanni. 

 

_G: Hey_

_G: whts up_

_G: Did u make it to class_

 

_R: Yes. I fell asleep. Ross woke me up, something about seeing me later_

 

_G: The Troubleby kid? Want me 2 take care of him_

 

_R: No. I just don’t get why he hates me so much. We’re the only half-fae in this entire school and we got along at first. I wish I knew what happened_

 

_G: I’m coming 2 get u_

 

_R: No, don’t. Bio teacher asked me where you were. You were right_

 

Robbie shoved his phone into his pocket again and sighed. “Just one more class until lunch and I had a nap. I can deal with this,” he murmured, then stepped into his next class as the bell rung. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will probably be longer. Also for the documentary I used some lines from The Living Body - Our Extraordinary Life ( https://youtu.be/kvprxzfsYQU )


	3. Wednesday Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie has a run in with his bully. His bully has a run in with Glanni.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for violence & small bit of emetophobia here

After finishing up his chips and candy, Robbie speed walked from the cafeteria as fast as he could go without drawing attention. 

 

No response from Glanni yet. 

 

Robbie strolled briskly down the dusty hallway. The artificial tile flooring may have been brightly colored years ago, but now had faded to pale, washed out tones of blue and yellow. The Mayhemtown School District teachers glared at the teens as if they were vermin, and the food was even worse than what you’d get in prison. At least, that’s what Glanni informed him, having spent more than a few weekends detained. 

 

He occasionally wished he still was in his old district, the one he went to middle school in where teachers were strict but didn’t assume you were bad because you were poor, but was too guilty to ever admit it. Going back there would mean going back to mom, and Glanni and the Mayhemtown Gang treated him much better than she seemed willing to even on her best days. The apartment they stayed in together wasn’t anything most people would consider impressive, but it was safe and any noise was from the Gang making merry racket, opposed to angry voices of disappointment.

 

Dodging the few other students not in the lunchroom as much as he could, he made a beeline for his locker. Robbie didn’t exactly have friends, unless he counted his older cousin’s trio of delinquents. They tolerated him pretty well, but he tried to stay out of their way given that he was younger than them and didn’t want to annoy them too much, especially since they all lived together. Furthermore, Glanni and his Gang rarely showed up to school, and certainly never for the purpose of attending class, so he couldn’t rely on them much when it came to bullying on campus. 

 

Cramming his textbooks from earlier into the metal tomb of education, Robbie slammed his locker shut his locker with a clang. After making sure it had locked properly, as the aging locks didn’t always function properly, he rushed out the door to make his way to the wood and metal shop to wait for class to start. 

 

Welding was the only saving grace of school for him. Robbie loved it. Metal was both useful for inventions and also a great medium for art, so he could do whatever he wanted with it. Glanni would bring him back scraps sometimes after a late night run, and Robbie would add them to the heap in the corner of his room. 

 

The Gang had initially complained about Robbie occupying the only real bedroom in the flat and accused Glanni of favoritism. Glanni sneered back at them, “Robbie is the only one of us who _needs_ a room!” 

 

He sighed with exasperation. “He’s skilled. He makes great tools for you dolts to use, so treat him with respect if you want to keep being successful.”

 

Robbie never considered himself to be _great_ , nor his inventions, despite what Glanni would tell him. However, he did see himself making progress nearly every day, which is why he enjoyed his technical and welding classes. The only downside to welding class was that it was in its own separate building, so he had to walk outside, alone, and hope no one bothered him. 

 

Of course someone did.

 

“ROBBIE!” 

 

Nearly jumping out of his skin, Robbie didn’t bother to turn around. He broke out into a wobbly run, but both his arms were quickly grabbed from opposite sides. 2 boys forced him to turn around and face the owner of the voice, Ross. 

 

“ _Rob_ the _Slob,_ what’s the hurry _?”_ he sneered _._

 

_“_ Ross _.”_ Robbie gritted his teeth pensively, only daring to look him out of the corner of his eye. 

“I’m glad we caught you just in time. It’s about time you pay for shit.”

 

Robbie began to quiver. “Ross please, I just don’t understand.” Don’t cry. Don’t cry. For the love of god, don’t cry in front of him. “What did I ever _do_ to you?” 

 

Ross’s eyes flashed with a strange emotion for a second before returning to his cocky glare. “You’re a disgusting, smelly, freaky _weirdo_ and _no one gives a shit_ if we punish you for existing.” 

 

“But Ross…” Robbie felt something wet on his face. Crap. “When I got here, you, we-“

 

“Shut up, _shut up_ , _just_ SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Ross bellowed. Ross kicked Robbie in the stomach with a sickening crunch, knocking the wind out of him. Robbie let out a groan as his legs gave out and he struggled to pull his arms inwards from the grasp they were in. Ross’s friends dragged him back to his feet so the pummeling could proceed. Ross had a sort of fiendish frenzy on his face as he continued to punch and kick Robbie. 

 

Finally exhausted, Ross bent over to catch his breath. “Why don’t you _ever_ learn to Shut. Up?” He growled. 

 

Robbie couldn’t respond if he wanted to. Now released, he dropped to the ground limply and choked as he retched up his tiny meal. Foootsteps, sirens, voices. His mind spun as the surrounding sounds seemed to wave in and out of reality, somehow distorted. The footsteps approaching him made him feel all the more nauseous.

 

Ross once again sneered down at him. “You look _so_ fucking pathetic.” 

 

As he reached down to grab him, alarm bells clanged deep within Robbie. In a half primal state, he focused all the energy that he could reach into his shoulder as Ross grasped his shoulder. 

 

Ross let out a shriek like he’d been burned and he recoiled. He stared at his shaky hand for several moments, blinking, as if to confirm that he hadn’t actually been scalded and there was no physical evidence of the magic. Steadying himself, he shot up with a hateful glint but made a visible double take. 

 

“WHAT THE _FUCK_ IS GOING ON HERE?” 

 

Glanni was seething on the other side of the chain link fence bordering the school with a contorted facial expression somewhere between daggers and explosives.

 

Ross’s accomplices made a step towards Robbie but then flinched. 

 

“NO. Fuck off RIGHT now if you don’t want to wind up in the gutter, you _fucking_ pissbabies!” Glanni snarled. With rapid speed and skill, he scaled the fence and dropped down into the school grounds. 

 

Not needing to be told twice, the pair fled towards the school building’s entrance. 

 

“H-hey! Wait! Why are you so scared? He won’t do shit!” Ross cried out after his ‘friends’ as they disappeared inside.

 

“Oh please.” Glanni drawled. “They’re scared shitless of me. As they should be, after what I did to Alex. You should be scared too. Give me _one_ good reason to not _fuck you up_.” 

 

As the spinning in his head began to ease, Robbie noticed several things at once. One, the sirens weren’t a fabrication. There were sirens incredibly close by, and they were _police sirens_. Two, Glanni’s hands and eyes began to glow a bright pink. 

 

Suddenly 2 police officers burst out the door the boys had fled into. 

 

“Glanni Glæpur, surrender! Get down on the ground!” One shouted.

 

Glanni didn’t so much as flicker his eyes towards them.

 

“Glanni please, don’t. Not right now.” Robbie’s voice came out a strained whisper. 

 

Ross, now backing away slightly shaking with a sheen of nervous sweat covering his face, stole a glance towards where the officers stood. Attempting to crack a sideways grin but looking more like a wild grimace, he retorted, “Yeah, you better listen to the little bitch. No glittering me to death in front of humans.”

 

Glanni, still completely ignoring the officers, took several steps backward as his heels made soft clicks against the cement. With a jerk of his hand, suddenly Ross was swung 20 feet into the air.

 

Now puzzled and unsure, the officers started to slowly back away. Students began to gather at the windows, letting out confused cries while pointing as the scene.

 

Ross flailed helplessly as he hovered above the ground, his breaths becoming shorter and panicked. “P-put me d-ooown,” he wailed. 

 

Glanni simply raised his hand further and threw Ross an extra 10 feet into the air. 

 

“You aren’t su-p-p-posed to do th-ii-iiisss, this many humans aren’t sssupp-posed to s-see-ee these things at once!” 

 

Glanni cocked an eyebrow and then chuckled. “Ooooh, you really got me there. Rules are my weakness. Doing everything by the book is _clearly_ what I’m known for. Guess I better put you down then?” Glanni hummed softly and everything seemed to pause for a moment. Then he brought his hand down with ferocity. 

 

Ross made a sickening thud on as his face collided with the pavement. 

 

As he let out a long wail, the police slowly approached Glanni. Pale and bulge-eyed, they sputtered softly until one collected himself enough to speak. 

 

“Glanni Glæpur, you are under arrest. Please allow yourself to be handcuffed.”

 

Seemingly satisfied with the chaos that just unfolded, Glanni went willingly for once in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooof. How does one.. extend scenes... This probably flew right by, rip.   
>  Sorry for killing the sweeter vibes from the other 2 chapters, but the story must go on.


	4. Friday Evening

Robbie covered his ears as the Mayhemtown Gang screeched at each other in the other room. It had been 2 days since he was last at school, and Robbie was dead terrified of seeing Ross again after what happened Wednesday. 

 

The cacophony rose to a new level as the gang threw furniture around and broke household items in a frenzied attempt to find whatever money they had left over. This was something that inevitably happened when Glanni was detained for several days, as the gang members were self aware enough to understand that they’re subpar at their “job” without Glanni around to direct them. Glanni, understanding that his cohorts are impulsive and greedy, often refused to tell them where anything particularly valuable is stored. 

 

Robbie swallowed, his palms sweating into the little rectangle he held in his hands. Glanni usually did his best to keep Robbie separate from crime because he didn’t want him to end up on the receiving end of any punishments, so the fact that he was currently in possession of directions to some loot indicated that Glanni had done something big and anticipated being locked up for more than a few days. 

 

That was concerning detail number one. 

 

Concerning detail number two was that Glanni was currently detained but no charges had been pressed. He should have been charged with _something_ by now _._

 

The cops who witnessed Glanni’s magic had been terrified and unsure of what exactly transpired. Terrified humans with a locked up fae is very bad news for Robbie and his ‘family’. Based on how the Mayhemtown Gang had started to have a meltdown before the weekend even began, Robbie had to assume that the police force intended to keep Glanni for quite some time, by illegal means if necessary, until they had an understanding of what went down.

 

Robbie groaned as he pried himself off his bed with a shaky wobble. After pulling on a hoodie over his tank top and then a jacket over that, he made his way out into the hallway.

 

The Gang, clearly still preoccupied with their frantic scavenging, paid Robbie no mind as he wobbled out towards the entry. Moving around was still very difficult with all his bruises and cracked bones. It was late out and wandering around alone at night with injury was a less-than-ideal situation for Mayhemtown, but based on the continued crashing and bellowing, if he didn’t do something stat there’d likely be no apartment left by morning. Leaning on the wall, he huffed, attempting to regain his breath.

 

Robbie’s eyes laid upon the birch cane leaning against the wall near a coatrack. Glanni’s cane, Robbie reminded himself. While he usually used it as a prop for some of his disguises, sometimes as an elderly person but typically the outlandish Rikki Riki, Glanni had told him a few stories where he needed the cane to “beat some fucker halfway to purgatory”. 

 

Robbie dragged himself over to the coatrack and took the cane into his hands, gently running his fingers over the lines and cracks visible under the slightly pink finish. Tightening his grip around the decorative gold top, he adjusted his posture into something more confident. Robbie wasn’t exactly the type to revel in violence, but knowing that Glanni had power with his cane made him feel more secure.

 

Now able to support himself more efficiently, Robbie softly closed the apartment door behind him and slowly made his way down the twisting, rusty outdoor stairs. Slightly shivering in the late night wind, Robbie shoved his hands into his jean pockets and fished around for the paper scrap. The mostly illegible note had a hastily doodled diagram which seemed to lead to an abandoned building in the far side of his district where delinquents frequently hung out. 

 

Robbie hobbled as fast as he could down the city blocks until he was standing outside the fence in front of the decrepit building. Apprehension bubbled up in Robbie’s chest. Glanni typically didn’t have any trouble in this kind of situation, but Robbie was _not_ Glanni, nor did he think he could pass for his level of prowess well on his best days. 

 

Despite this, Robbie had no food at home, no cousin, and likely no unbroken belongings at this point if he were to turn around. That is to say, he had no choice. Mustering up his courage, he slunk around the chain link until he found an area where someone had undoubtedly cut the fence from the bottom up and pushed the metal forward to create a small yet transgressible gap.

 

Dropping onto his hands and knees, Robbie poked his head through the hole cautiously, scanning the surroundings. Lots of cement, rubble, and trash, but no movement in sight and no voices to be heard. Feeling relief for his luck but not entirely dropping his guard, he carefully pushed the cane through then scooched to the other side. 

 

Trudging across the soil, Robbie kicked an aluminum can out of his path absentmindedly as he examined his paper scrap. 

 

_thord_ _third floor_

_use my crowbar_

_xoxo G_

 

Frustratingly vague and, as it turns out, rather inaccessible. The building was originally going to be a public library that was partially city funded but heavily reliant on private company donation. After experiencing the Mayhemtown ‘culture’ for several years, Spoilero Inc. pulled their funds and moved business headquarters to Bigtown. The building is city property, unlikely to ever be finished, yet no one was willing to invest in tearing it down either, leaving the library in limbo for 20 odd years.

 

In result, the building structure was counterintuitive even for unfinished standards, some rooms completely bare, others filled with trash, and others halfway decent. It was difficult enough to get up the first flight of stairs using a cane, as it appeared an individual took it upon them self to graciously try to chip apart that section of the building, but once he circled around the second floor multiple times Robbie wasn’t sure if there had ever _been_ a staircase to the third floor; space had been left to _build_ steps, but there was no furniture to climb on, nor was Robbie athletic enough to jump to the next floor on his best days.

 

Frustrated, Robbie leaned onto a window sill and stared out at the city. The atmosphere was deceptively lazy- people were definitely out there on a Friday night, hiding in alleyways or at parties, but the city itself appeared to be silent. 

 

Robbie scanned to the left and noticed a home-purchase fire escape ladder hanging out a third floor window. It was way too short to come anywhere near the ground, and far away enough from the window’s ledge so one would have to jump to get to it. 

 

Grudgingly, Robbie reached towards the ladder with the cane and managed to pull it closer to the ledge with the tip. Trying his best to not fall while angled awkwardly in a windowsill 30 feet above ground, Robbie gripped onto the ladder with one hand and dropped the cane into the room behind the window less gently than he would have preferred. Making a mental note to come back for it later, he steadied one foot on the ladder and one on the ledge. Robbie slid the ladder over as far as comfortably possible so it wouldn’t swing too hard before removing his foot from the ledge and climbing up the ladder.

 

Robbie took in the room as he swung his legs inside. To his left there was an ornate, aged desk covered in scratches and a shabby stool whose stitching was coming undone with stuffing beginning to poke out. In the center there appeared to be a makeshift ‘stage-’ a large ovular piece of plywood painted pink. A coatrack of gaudy costumes completed the scene, most of which had been stolen from their school’s drama class. Robbie recognized a rainbow wig and cherry red clown nose that he had overheard some students complain were missing, despite the fact that Glanni had seemingly not been to school for several months. 

 

Sighing, Robbie fished his mini crowbar out of his pocket. It was going to be a long night. 

 

—

 

After about 40 minutes of crawling around on the floor, tearing up loose boards, finding nothing, and replacing them, Robbie was fed up with being on his hands and knees.

 

He moved over to the stool and slowly sat down with a groan. He leaned his cheek into his right hand and fiddled with the desk’s drawer contents with his left hand. Weird rubber toys, an opaque bag with squishy contents labeled “Kjartan,” a lighter, and a box of cigarettes. The corner of Robbie’s lips twitched.

 

Glanni and the gang spent hours upon hours standing in the outside stairwell, smoking. Sometimes huddling close, eyes shifting, whispering together before slipping off to a convenience store and returning with extra wares. Sometimes laughing so loud the apartment manager would threaten to evict them if they didn’t shut up and this was their _final warning_ , even though he never followed through due to Glanni’s father being a prominent politician who all but disowned him. Mayhemtown is not a lucrative town in the moral sense, so it wasn’t unlikely for politicians to be related to some sort of criminal activity; however, it was much more common to distance oneself from the bad publicity than to deal with it sincerely, so his father dealt with his son’s newfound title of Reckless Crime by paying for him to live hidden away in an apartment far from their mansion. He didn’t want to pay for military school _and_ his wife’s gambling addiction, nor force him back into therapy, nor simply talk to him. 

 

One time Muggur had offered Robbie a drag. Before he could respond Glanni hissed at Muggur, literally hissed, and smacked him upside his purple beanie. He snapped at Robbie to go home. He did. This time, Glanni wasn’t here. These were reminiscent of him. Robbie gently opened the top and sniffed the contents. Like chocolate covered cherries… but weird. Tentatively pulling a single cigarette out, Robbie tried to light it; sparking but not staying lit. The lighter was rough on his fingers, but they were already calloused from all the work he did with metal. On about his third try, he lit the end, inhaled, and immediately choked. 

 

Eyes watering, he jumped up and ran over to the window, then pitched it out while still wheezing. “This _burns_ ,” he snuffled, “how do they stomach so many at once?”

 

Giving up on his little endeavor, Robbie turned to the back righthand corner, where the structurally intended entry was, which was boarded shut. Robbie approached the door and gently traced his fingers over the wood, his eyes narrowing. Suddenly the boards faded at his touch. 

 

“Glamour,” he whispered. Grasping the doorknob, he yanked it open and stepped through. The door slammed shut behind him and revealed what _should_ have been an untouched hallway. 

 

Outfits on mannequins lined the entire hall, some with over the top disguises, some appearing to be casual clothing. Other random trinkets and items littered the floor, along with brightly colored trash wrappers. Robbie kicked a bag of chips, revealing a rusty knife with red splotches on it. He shuddered and prayed that it was only a prop used in some of their scenes and not actually blood. 

 

Moving along, he spotted a medium sized wooden box that was nailed shut with no apparent opening. 

 

“Oh my god,” moaned Robbie as he dragged his hands down his face. “I pulled up all those boards and what I was looking for was in here?” 

 

He was certain that this was what he was sent for, but figured he should pry it open anyway. The gang would have an absolute fit if he brought home an empty box or silly putty or something weird and told them it was money. 

 

Prying as hard as he could, the top wouldn’t budge. He grumbled and adjusted his knee to rest on its side with the top facing away from him. As he gripped the side roughly and twisted the crowbar as tightly as he could underneath the wood the top suddenly cracked in half, and its contents spilled out onto the floor. 

 

Robbie’s mouth gaped as he sifted through the pile. Diamonds, expensive jewelry, gold watches- Robbie could hardly believe his eyes. He hurriedly gathered the loot off the floor and shoved it into his pockets, zipping them up tightly. 

 

Pushing himself up, he excitedly hurried to the hole-that-should-be-a-staircase, intending to drop down, given that he absolutely didn’t anticipate being able to jump back onto the windowsill from the shaky fire escape ladder. Once he got to the end of the building he came to  a screeching halt. 

 

There were rows upon rows of bird control spikes intertwined with barbed wire blocking off the hole with one small pathway to use as an exit. Glanni & co made it very clear that they didn’t want to share the third floor, and Robbie was incredibly thankful he didn’t try jumping up and grabbing the edge earlier. 

 

Robbie scooched along the slim path until he reached the edge. His chest tightened as he stared downwards. “It’s only 10 feet, it’s not that high,” he whispered shakily, squeezing his eyes shut. _Ross was 30 feet in the air. It sounded like his entire body cracked when he hit the ground._ Robbie shook his head. _No, I can’t think like that._

 

Holding his breath, Robbie leapt off the ledge. When he was about 4 feet away from the ground, his sleeve caught on a spike. Robbie’s jacket pulled up to his face around his neck; he started to wiggle in panic, then with an abrupt ripping sound he landed with a twinge of pain on his ankle. 

 

Robbie tensed up immediately and grabbed his leg, shaking slightly. “Shiiiiiit,” he sobbed, as tears began to roll down his face. 

 

Suddenly laughter echoed from down the hall. 

 

“Wow, I’ve never heard you use language like that, Robbie.” 

 

Cringing, Robbie forced himself to glance up at familiar, old Doc Martens and tattered black jeans. “Mina!” He snuffled. Glanni’s ex girlfriend. Great. “…Please help me. My leg really hurts. I left Glanni’s cane in the other room-“ 

 

“You mean this?” A deeper voice called. “This ugly pink thing belongs to Mister so-called Reckless Crime? I knew he was a douche, but this is too funny.”

 

Mina began snorting ceaselessly and ran her fingers through her oily hair. “We should break it! Snap it right in half!” 

 

“No!” Robbie began to hiccup in a mixture of panic and pain. “Please, I really need it to go home. Glanni’ll be really angry if I break it… Please.” 

 

Mina continued to snort as the guy she was with wielded the cane like a bat. “Sorry Robbie, but he cheated on me. If this ugly stick means more to him than me, then he deserves to get his heart broken over it.” 

 

As he got ready to smash it against the wall, Robbie felt a wave of anger flow into him. 

 

“STOP!” Robbie’s voice thundered throughout the library. 

 

“… Scott?” Mina sounded annoyed. “What’s wrong? Just smash it already!”

 

He was shuddering, but otherwise frozen in a batting position with sweat rolling down his face. “I-I can’t,” he choked, his voice wavering with panic. “I c-can’t move!”

 

Mina’s eyes widened, her head whipping back and forth between Scott and Robbie. “You’re a FREAK!” She snarled. “Just like your cousin! A fucking inhuman freak!” She raised her hand as if she were going to smack him, but then recoiled and stumbled backwards as his eyes began to glow purple.

 

“Drop the cane down and go away, or I’ll do what Glanni did to Ross!” Robbie insisted. Still sobbing and shaking on the ground, Robbie was convinced that they’d _never_ believe him, but to his astonishment, Mina pried the cane out of Scott’s hands and lobbed it at Robbie as forcefully as possible. She scrambled away with Scott down the stairs (mostly dragging him in his half paralyzed state), all while shooting panicked looks over her shoulder.

 

After they had completely disappeared from earshot, Robbie propped himself up on the cane and began to creep back to the apartments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this isn't too long compared to the other chapters so far. I was kinda concerned it was too slow when writing it, but after rereading I like it more than I originally did. Dunno, if there's anyone out there still reading this, tell me what you think ^-^


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